UAB to offer new degree in public health

The University of Alabama at Birmingham plans to start offering a bachelor's degree in public health this coming fall.

The university announced the new degree today, saying in a news release that the program will comprise of three concentrations: environmental health sciences, global health studies and public health preparedness.

"This new degree will give undergraduate students the opportunity to look at the overall big picture of public health effects within communities and what is interfering with healthier, happier beings on local, national and international levels," said Nicole Gravitt, the undergraduate program manager for UAB's School of Public Health, the new degree's umbrella.

The UAB release said the undergraduate public health program will give students the foundation to enter a health professional graduate program, professional school or the workforce.